Low-cost and versatile analytical tool with purpose-made capillary electrophoresis coupled to contactless conductivity detection: Application to antibiotics quality control in Vietnam

In this study, the development of our purpose-made capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) for CE is reported. These systems have been employed as a simple, versatile, and cost-effective analytical tool. CE-C⁴D devices, whose principle is based on the control of the ion movements under an electrical field, can be constructed even with a modest financial budget and limited infrastructure. A featured application was developed for quality control of antimicrobial drugs using CE-C⁴D, with most recent work on determination of aminoglycoside and glycopeptide antibiotics being communicated. For aminoglycosides, the development of CE-C⁴D methods was adapted to two categories. The first one includes drugs (liquid or powder form) for intravenous injection, containing either amikacin, streptomycin, kanamycin A, or kanamycin B. The second one covers drugs for eye drops (liquid or ointment form), containing either neomycin, tobramycin, or polymyxin. The CE-C⁴D method development was also made for determination of some popular glycopeptide antibiotics in Vietnam, including vancomycin and teicoplanin. The best detection limit achieved using the developed CE-C⁴D methods was 0.5 mg/L. Good agreement between results from CE-C⁴D and the confirmation method (HPLC- Photometric Diode Array ) was achieved, with their result deviations less than 8% and 13% for aminoglycoside and glycopeptide antibiotics, respectively.     

Microgravimetric and Spectroscopic Analysis of Solid−Electrolyte Interphase Formation in Presence of Additives

Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) with damping monitoring is applied for real-time analysis of solid−electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation in diphenyl octyl phosphate (DPOP) and vinylene carbonate (VC) modified electrolytes. Fast SEI formation is observed for the DPOP containing electrolyte, whereas slow growth is detected in VC-modified and reference electrolytes. QCM measurements in a dry state show considerable reduction of the mass quantity for DPOP and reference samples and minor mass decrease for the SEI layer formed in the presence of VC. The results indicate that VC enhances SEI stability, whereas the addition of DPOP or no additive results in incorporation of loosely attached species, leadubg to SEI instability. Resonance frequency damping, Δw, and dissipation factor, D, are used for analyzing mechanical properties of the SEI layers. The apparent increase of Δw and D during SEI formation in presence of DPOP suggests a pronounced viscoelasticity of the layer. QCM results are compared with surface morphology and chemical composition, revealing excellent agreement of the applied characterization approaches.     

Novel biogenic silver nanoparticles used for antibacterial effect and catalytic degradation of contaminants

Research on Chemical Intermediates - The study reports a versatile, cost-efficient and ecofriendly protocol for the synthesis of biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the aqueous extracts of...     

Chemical Profiles and Antibacterial Activity of Essential Oils from Rhizomes of Aspidistra phanluongii

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Canonical extensions: an algebraic approach to Stone duality

This note aims to highlight some of the conceptual contributions to duality theory made by Bjarni Jónsson through the theory of canonical extensions.     

Chemical Modification of β-Cyclodextrins: Balancing Soft and Rigid Domains in Complex Structures

Crystalline polymers such as β-cyclodextrin (βCD) can be modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) diglycidyl ether cross-linkers (262, 394, 500 Da). In this work, the authors show that the quantity and length of the PEG soft segments influence the solubility and malleability of the products, which are water soluble and easily converted to nitrated analogues under standard reaction conditions. Inert and nitrated derivatives containing longer PEG segments showed the ability to self-heal. The degree of cross-linking and decomposition temperatures and energies depended on the quantity and length of the soft segment. Nitrated cross-linked βCD containing longer PEG segments did not ignite following an electrostatic discharge of 4.5 J. The chemical stability of βCD/PEG binders was tested by heat flow calorimetry at 80 °C. The balanced incorporation of soft PEG and rigid βCD segments was found to improve the processability of cross-linked βCDs and desensitised their nitrated derivatives, offering new solutions for inert and energetic binders.     

The Preparation of Slag Fiber and Its Application in Microwave Absorption

In this research, the slag fibers coming from water‐quenched slags by using thermal plasma technology were successfully prepared and introduced into epoxy resin to be microwave absorber. The fiber‐blowing equipment for manufacturing slag fibers through controlling the nozzle angle and vertical distance from the nozzle to the melt outlet was also studied. The spectroscopic characterization of the formation processes of slag fiber was studied by using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), inductively‐coupled plasma (ICP), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Microwave absorbing properties of the slag fibers and thermal plastic resin were investigated by measuring reflection loss in the 2–18 and 18–40 GHz microwave frequency range using the free space method. It was found that the composite specimens of slag fiber and thermal plastic resin had the best microwave absorption due to the reflection losses between from −4 to −8 dB and from −11 to −17 dB at frequencies between 2–18 and 18–40 GHz.     

Microencapsulation of hydrophilic solid powder as a flame retardant with epoxy resin by using interfacial reaction method

Microencapsulation of Bistetrazol · diammonium (BHT · 2NH₃) as a hydrophilic powdery flame retardant was tried by the interfacial reaction method in reverse emulsion. In this microencapsulation method, water droplets containing BHT · 2NH₃ and hydrazine as gelation agent for epoxy resin were dispersed in the continuous phase of corn oil. When epoxy resin was added to the continuous phase, BHT · 2NH₃ as a core material was microencapsulated by the reaction of epoxy resin with hydrazine on the interface between the surface of water droplet and the continuous phase. The content of the core material from 70 to 85%, and the microencapsulation efficiency from 89 to ca 100% were able to be attained under the experimental conditions adopted here. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Keggin型缺位杂多阴离子PW11O7-39电催化降解硝基苯

以Keggin型缺位杂多阴离子PW11O7-39(PW11)为电催化剂,硝基苯(NB)为模型污染物,研究了Na2SO4-NaHSO4介质中PW11O7-39对NB的电催化降解作用.实验结果表明,在pH=2.5,E=-0.6V和O2流速为60mL·min-1的条件下,初始浓度为0.5 mmol·L-1的硝基苯反应80 min即完全降解,反应120 min总有机碳(TOC)去除达42%.硝基苯的电催化降解服从准一级反应动力学模型,室温下其表观速率常数Kobs的大小与NB的初始浓度有关,当NB的初始浓度为0.5,0.9和1.3mmol·L-1时,Kobs值分别为1.0×10-1,6.0×10-2和4.1×10-2min-1.     

Crystallization and melting behavior of PP/CaCO3 nanocomposites during thermo-oxidative degradation

The crystallization and melting behavior of PP/CaCO₃ nanocomposites during thermo-oxidative degradation process were studied using differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The results indicated that addition of nano-CaCO₃ and compatibilizer significantly reduced the thermo-oxidative stability of PP. Before degradation, thermal aging resulted in an increase in the melting temperature and crystallinity of PP due to the annealing crystallization. Thermo-oxidative degradation decreased the melting temperature and increased melting range, and caused an increase in crystallinity of PP due to the chemi-crystallization. The investigation also indicated that the influence of degradation on the small crystals were much more significant than that on the large ones.